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I met this phrase in Harry Potter book 1, "...the train rounded the corner..."
Could you tell me if it is the common way of saying what it means or maybe better "went round the corner" or "turned round the corner"?
Is the usage of "round" as a verb common in this sense?
To me it sounds like "make the corner rounded, smooth"
It's not an unusual turn of phrase, meaning it doesn't draw any special attention. It's not notably a "British" or an "American" expression either, nor is it a colloquialism or from any particular dialect.
It is slightly literary in that (as a verb) it's something I would read but not say. For example, if I was a policeman following someone I might yell:
The suspect went around that corner!
and not
The suspect rounded that corner!
This is probably because "rounded the corner" describes the action of turning, and not the eventual destination. There isn't any context where I would use it, outside of telling a story. But in a story it's perfectly normal.
There is a related expression, "just round the corner" which can be spoken, either meaning literally "as you turn the corner of the next street" or figuratively "nearby".
There's a great deli just round the corner where they make the best pastrami sandwiches.
You said:
To me it sounds like 'make the corner rounded, smooth'
That might make sense if the sentence was:
The carpenter rounded the corners of the door
but I don't see how that would make any sense in the context of a train!
As what the phrase means, it could mean
The train went around the corner
in the case of a departing train, or
The train came around the corner
in the case of an inbound train.
As for whether or not this is a common usage or a rare/unusual usage, I think @Andrew was right on track about that. There's nothing unusual or jarring about it, especially in the context of a story. It's found elsewhere in literature, as in this excerpt (from the Simon & Schuster Survivors series):
She saw her mother reach out to steady her father, then the wagon rounded the corner and was gone, hidden by the pines.
I think it’s a less common way of expressing the thought. More usual is “turning the corner”. Also trains don’t encounter corners actually, so they are more often seen “rounding a bend” or “rounding a curve“
In some cases (non-literary) it's used as an abbreviated form of Around. The song "She'll Be Comin' 'Round the Mountain" is one example. In the Southern US we tend to say we're "going 'round" to indicate we're visiting someone or stopping somewhere. "I went 'round to all the neighbors' houses to collect money" or "Are ya'll comin' 'round this weekend to visit?"
In general terms, I've heard "he rounded the corner" rather often around my parts. Funny enough as I think about it, I remember when I worked with the police constantly hearing "rounded the corner of ___" a lot.
